E  R  K  E  L  E  Y\* 

BRARY    I 

IIVcR-;TY  OF     I 
ALIFORNJA     J 


> 


Greater  Extension 

and 

Development  of 
Church  Influence 


By 

JOHN  A.  GODRYCZ 
D.  D.,  Ph.  D.,  Utr.  J.  D. 


Printed  by  People's  Friend  Publishing  Co. 
PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


LOAN  STACK 


CONTENTS 

Introduction   7 

Important  Points  From  the  Letter  of 

Cardinal  Gibbons 8 

The  Holy  See 13 

The  Home  Missions 27 

Foreign  Missions   33 

Catholic  Literature  and  Catholic  Press 36 

Social  Work 39 

The  Catholic  University  and  Catholic  Education, .  57 


595 


NIHIL  OBSTAT 
J.  M.  Corrigan  S.  T.  D. 

Censor  Librorum 
Philadelphia,  Sept.  18,  1919. 

IMPRIMATUR 

t  D.  J.  Dougherty 

Archiepiscopus  Philadelphiensis 
Philadelphia,  Sept.  23,  1919. 


HIS  EMINENCE,  CARDINAL  GIBBONS,  in  th« 
letter   addressed   to   a   general   committee   on 
Catholic   interests   and   affairs     (composed   of 
Eight  Reverend    Bishops,    Muldoon,  Schrembs,  Glass 
and  Russell),     considers   eleven  points   in   reference 
to  a  greater  extension  and  development  of  the  influence 
of  the  Church. 

The  Cardinal  says  that  at  present  begins  a  great 
opportunity  for  the  Church  of  extending  her  influence 
in  the  different  ramifications  of  her  activity.  This  ac- 
tivity, which  ought  to  be  developed  in  the  future,  His 
Eminence  points  out  in  small  paragraphs  as  follows: 

No.  1.— Holy  See. 

No.  2. — Home  Missions. 

No.  3. — Foreign  Missions. 

No.  4. — Social  and  Charitable  Work. 

No.  5. — Catholic  University. 

No.  6. — Catholic  Education  in  General. 

No.  7. — Catholic  Literature. 

No.  8. — Catholic  Press. 

No.  9. — Legislation. 

No.  10. — A  Catholic  Bureau. 

No.  11. — Finances. 

Because  the  letter  of  His  Eminence  is  of  a  great 
importance,  we  first  quote  each  of  the  ten  paragraphs 
just  as  it  was  written  to  the  committee  on  Catholic 
interests  and  affairs,  and  then  following  the  same  order 
we  present  in  separate  paragraphs  some  ideas  that  re- 
fer to  the  activity  of  the  Church  and  to  the  points 
raised  by  His  Eminence. 


8 

IMPORTANT  POINTS  FROM  THE  LETTER  OF 
CARDINAL  GIBBONS 


1.  THE  HOLY  SEE.      Archbishop  Ceretti  explained  to  us» 
on  the  occasion  of  my  jubilee  the  pressing  needs  of  the  Holy 
See.    The  countries  of  Europe  impoverished  by  war  will  be  able 
to  contribute  little  to  the  Holy  Father.     Yet  greater  demands 
than  ever  before  are  being  made  upon  the  Holy  See  in  behalf 
of  the  destitute  and  suffering  in  devastated  lands,  and  for  the 
maintenance  of  poor  missions. 

Rome,  said  His  Excellency,  now  looks  to  America  to  be  the 
leader  in  all  things  Catholic  and  to  set  an  example  to  other  na- 
tions. 

The  Catholics  of  the  United  States  are  in  a  position  to-day, 
to  manifest  in  a  way  that  will  give  edification  to  the  whole 
Church  their  generous  loyalty  to  the  Father  of  Christendom.  The 
sum  of  money  we  may  hope  to  raise  and  the  best  way  to  raise 
it  are  points  to  be  considered  under  No.  11. 

Church  Here  Never  Stronger 

2.  Home  Missions.    The  end  of  the  war  finds  the  Church 
in  this  country  in  a  stronger  position  than  ever  before.     It  is; 
recognized  more  widely  and  more  clearly  as  the  one   Church 
that  knows  its  own  mind,  that  has  a  message  for  society  in  its 
troubled  state  and  that  is  obeyed  and  loved  by  its  people.    The 
decay  of  other  Churches  will  turn  the  thoughts  of  many  towards 
us.  The  fine  record  of  our  chaplains  in  the  army  and  navy  has 
taught  millions  the  real  character  of  the  Catholic  clergy.    Every 
Bishop  in  his  own  diocese  will  try  to  reap  the  harvest  which 
was  sown  during  the  war.    But  is  it  not  possible  for  us  to  make 
larger  plans  ?     Cannot  the  mind  of  the  American  public  be  more 
effectively  reached?      Cannot  the  press  spread   Catholic  truth 
if  the  work  be  energetically  undertaken  under  the  direction  of 
the  hierarchy?     Some  suggest  a  more  active  preaching  cam- 
paign, of  going  out  to  the  people,  since  the  vast  millions  fail 
to  come  to  our  churches.    Many  sections  of  our  country  have  few 
Catholics  and  are  most     absolutely     ignorant  of     Catholicism, 
pidly  increasing  in  numbers  and  growing  in  education  and  in- 
fluence, we  have  made  almost  no  impression.  Are  our  methods 
at  fault  or  our  zeal  lacking?     What  can  be  done  for  all  these 
souls?     We  have  organizations  in  the  home  mission  field.  Cath- 
olic Church  Extension,  the  Missionary  Union,  the  Negro  and  In- 
dian Commission  and  several  others,  all  more  or  less  under  the 
control  of  the  hierarchy.       Is  closer  co-operation  among  them 
possible?     Would  it  be  well  to  reconsider  the  whole  problem 
of  our  home  missions,  which  is,  of  course,  the  chief  field  of  our 
duty?     Would  a  conference  of  those  most  intimately  concerned 
be  advisable?     This   is   a  very  large  subject,  of  course,  and 


requires  long  study  and  much  thought,  but  I  am  confident  that 
our  Bishops,  missionaries  and  the  clergy  in  general  are  doing: 
much  valuable  thinking  along  these  lines,  of  which  the  whole 
Church  should  have  the  benefit.  I  am  hopeful  that  a  begin- 
ning will  have  been  made  before  the  next  meeting  of  the 
luerarchy. 

3.  FOREIGN  MISSIONS.— Our  enormous  needs  at  home 
in  the  progressive  country  have  so  absorbed  our  thought  and 
our  zeal  that  we  hardly  have  been  able,  till  very  recently,  to 
turn  our  attention  to  foreign  missions.    The  new  position  of  our 
nation    as    the    great    world    power    will    surely    enlarge    our 
vision.    All  over  the  world  America  will  have  tremendous  influ- 
ence.    Up  to  the  present  moment,  we  may  say,  that  influence 
has  been  entirely  non-Catholic.    To  the  world  in  general,  even 
to  the  Catholic  world,  American  is  synonymous  with  Protestant. 
The  wonderful  strength  of  the  Church  in  this  country  is  almost 
unknown  to  foreign  lands.    The  reason  is  that  the  Church  abroad 
has  profited  little  by  our  strength  and  our  riches.    Now  we  can- 
not doubt  that  vocations  in  this  field,  both  of  men  and  of  women. 
will  be  found  in  abundance,  and  it  is  our  confident  hope  and 
prayer  that  God  will  use  American  zeal,  energy  and  organizing 
ability  to  give  a  great  impulse  to  foreign  missions.  How  can  the 
hierarchy  aid  in  fostering  the  missionary  spirit  and  in  gather- 
ing the  funds  necessary  for  the  work? 

4.  SOCIAL    AND  CHARITABLE  WORK.— The    Catholic 
War  Council  and  the  National  Catholic  Charities  Conference  have 
done  most  valuable  pioneer  work  in  this  field.     We  are  deeply 
indebted  to  the  administrative  committee  for  its  timely  guidance 
in  the  problems  of  this  reconstructive  period.     Three  things  in 
my  opinion  are  needed.     First,  the  presentation,  definite,  clear 
and  forceful,  of  Catholic  social  principles.  Second,  more  know- 
ledge as  to  the  best  methods  of  Catholic  social  and  charitable 

work.  Third,  a  more  general  impulse  to  put  our  social  prin- 
ciples and  methods  into  operation.  Society  never  had  greater 
need  for  guidance.  It  is  turning  for  light  to  the  Catholic  Church. 
Too  often,  we  must  admit,  our  principles,  the  principles  of  the 
Gospel,  have  lain  hidden  in  our  theologies,  so  much  so  that  the 
recent  pamphlet  on  "Social  Reconstruction"  appeared  to  many 
a.  complete  novelty.  The  Church  has  a  great  work  of  social  edu- 
cation and  social  welfare  lying  before  it.  Here,  again,  the 
hierarchy  must  take  the  lead. 

Continue  Welfare  Work 

Hardly  anything  in  recent  years  has  reflected  greater  glory 
on  the  Church  than  the  care  of  the  normal  welfare  of  our  sol- 
diers and  sailors  during  the  war — a  work  begun  by  the  Knights 
of  Columbus  and  perfected  by  the  hierarchy  through  its  com- 
jnittee  of  the  National  Catholic  War  Council.  Buildings  with 
their  equipment  are  to  be  found  in  nearly  all  our  Government 
-forts  and  stations  here  and  abroad.  No  one,  I  presume,  would 


10 


think  that  we  should  abandon  this  field  of  apostolic  work.  After 
the  record  we  have  made,  it  would  be  impossible  for  us  to  say  to 
our  men  in  the  service:  we  leave  you  now  to  the  care  of  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Jewish  Welfare  Board  and  the  Salvation  Army. 
That  these  organizations  propose  to  keep  up  the  work  begun 
during  the  war,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Naturally,  too  the  Knights 
of  Columbus  do  not  wish  to  give  up  the  work  or  to  abandon 
the  valuable  property  erected  in  Government  stations  and  forts. 

This  work  can  be  best  done  by  the  Knights  with  the  support  of 
the  hierarchy,  as  a  truly  Catholic  work.  For  the  sake  of  our 
men  in  the  service,  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  Knights  of 
Columbus  and  for  the  honor  of  the  Church  itself,  this  work 
then  should  continue  to  be  under  the  direction  of  the  hierarchy. 
The  time  will  soon  come,  too,  when  we  shall  have  to  con- 
sider the  best  means  of  utilizing  the  zeal  and  good  will  of  other 
Catholic  societies,  both  of  men  and  women,  and  of  the  laity 
in  general.  Our  paople  long  to  be  helpful  and  only  need  to  have 
the  way  shown  to  them. 

5.  CATHOLIC  UNIVERSITY.  The  great  war  has  revealed 
to  the  world  the  all-penetrating  influence  of  the  highly  trained 

intellect.  The  universal  unrest  of  the  day  seems  a  prelude 
to  very  troubled  times.  Evil  doctrines  propounded  by  clever 
minds  will  have  more  and  more  influence.  Great  need,  then, 
will  the  Church  have  of  leaders  with  sure  knowledge  and  well 
trained  and  well  balanced  minds.  Our  greatest  single  hope  is 
in  the  Catholic  University,  which,  in  its  short  existence,  has  al- 
ready been  of  the  greatest  service  in  many  ways  that  even  the 
Catholic  public,  perhaps,  is  not  aware  of.  After  its  many  vicis- 
situdes, it  stands  today  upon  a  solid  foundation.  We  have  reason 
to  be  proud  of  it  and  its  achievements.  It  is  the  child  of  the 
hierarchy  and  depends  for  its  support  on  the  hierarchy.  Continu- 
ally in  the  past  its  development  has  been  stunted  for  lack  of 
funds.  If  it  is  to  obtain  and  hold  its  place  among  the  leading 
universities  of  the  United  States  a  greater  interest  in  its  welfare 
and  success  must  be  aroused  among  our  Catholic  people.  It 
ought  not  to  be  difficult  to  double  or  treble  at  least  the  annual 
contribution.  Our  committee  should  consider  ways  and  means 
of  effecting  this. 

A  report  on  higher  education  among  Catholics,  relatively  to 
the  intellectual  life  of  the  country,  is  a  great  desideratum.     It 
would  reveal  the  need  of  greater  efforts  to  raise  our  intellectual 
standards. 

6.  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION. — Centralization  in  education 
is  the  trend  of  the  day  and  seems  due  to  the  needs  of  the  situa- 
tion.   What  will  be  the  outcome?     How  will  Catholic  interests 
be  affected?     There  is  no  question  at  present  on  which  light  is 
more  earnestly  desired.     It  is,   indeed,   the   most  pressing  of 
problems  the  one  on  which  we  can  least  afford  to  delay.     I  beg 
you  to  have  a  careful  treatment  of  this  subject  prepared  and  sub- 
mitted to  the  judgment  of  the  most  expert. 

A  less  pressing  but  even  more  important  matter  is  the  sys- 
tematization   of  our  own  educational   forces.     There  is  great 


11 

waste  through  lack  of  coordination.  Do  we  not  need  more  of 
system?  Will  not  the  very  trend  of  our  national  life  force  us 
to  study  and  overhaul  our  own  educational  structure? 

Growth  of  Catholic  Press 

7.  CATHOLIC  LITERATURE.— We  are  not  a  literary 
Church,  for  our  busy  ministry  has  left  little  leisure  for  literary 
pursuits.  Nevertheless  our  ministry  would  be  greatly  facilitated 
by  the  production  and  spread  of  good  books  and  pamphlets.  As 
a  matter  of  fact  it  is  greatly  hampered  now  by  lack  of  literature 
on  the  most  common  topics  of  the  day,  which  would  enlighten 
inquiries  or  strengthen  the  faith  and  deepen  the  piety  of  our  own 
people.  It  has  been  suggested  that  a  literary  bureau,  under 
the  patronage  of  the  hierarchy,  could  easily  secure  writers  to 
give  us  what  is  lacking.  Is  this  feasible?  Certainly  there  is*  a 
great  deal  of  literary  talent  among  us  which  with  a  little  stimula- 
tion would  rouse  to  a  very  useful  activity. 

The  various  Catholic  Truth  Societies  of  the  country  might 
co-operate  with  greater  effort  and  be  stirred  to  more  productive- 
ness. It  would  be  easy  to  suggest  many  useful  pamphlets  that 
should  be  written.  A  greater  circulation  of  those  already  in 
existence  is  desirable.  A  Catholic  literary  bureau  would  great- 
ly aid  both  these  projects. 

Such  a  bureau  could  also  enlist  the  services  of  able  writers 
in  preparing  articles  on  Catholic  subjects  for  the  secular  papers 
and  magazines.  It  frequently  happens  that  an  attack  more  or  less 
open  is  made  on  the  Church  in  the  secular  magazines  or  papers. 
An  answer  is  immediately  forthcoming  in  our  Catholic  press. 
But  who  reads  it?  It  reaches  a  limited  number  of  our  own 
people,  but  is  unheard  of  by  the  world  of  non-Catholics  who  have 
read  the  attack  in  the  secular  press.  Moreover,  I  submit  that 
we  should  not  forever  continue  to  place  ourselves  in  a  merely 
apologetic,  excusing,  or  defensive  attitude.  While  not  being 
offensively  aggressive,  should  we  not  endeavor  occasionally  to 
secure  a  sympathetic  hearing  from  our  separated  brethren  by 
articles  calculated  to  inform  the  non- Catholic  public  on  Catho- 
lic teaching,  practices  and  endeavors?  The  world  outside  the 

Church  is  not  maliciously  antagonistic  to  us.  Its  opposition 
is  due  to  misconceptions  of  the  Church  and  her  ambitions.  We 
need  to  reach  the  non-Catholic  world,  and  the  most  effective 
means  by  which  it  can  be  reached  is  the  secular  press. 

8.  THE  CATHOLIC  PRESS.— The  children  of  the  world 
.are  wiser  in  their  day  than  the  children  of  light.  Certainly,  there 
is  no  comparison  between  the  secular  and  the  religious  press, 
as  regards  the  interest  of  the  reading  matter  which  each  pro- 
vides. The  Catholic  press  has  begun  to  imitate  the  secular  press 
with  its  central  news  association  and  bureaus  for  syndicated  ar- 
ticles. Such  associations  and  bureaus  could  raise  the  tone  and 
lieighten  the  interest  of  our  weeklies.  Up  to  the  present  time 
the  hierarchy  has  taken  no  concerted  action  on  behalf  of  the 
•Catholic  press.  In  view  of  the  immense  influence  for  good  which 


12 

a  popular  press  could  have  on  our  people,  it  is  worthy  of  inquiry 
whether  we  cannot  come  to  its  aid. 

9.  LEGISLATION. — There  are  many  signs  of  increasing 
hostility  to  the  Church  and  of  a  desire  to  translate  this  hostility 
into  legislation,  whether  national  or  State.    We  have  hardly  had 
any  policy  at  all  in  regard  to  such  matters  and  frequently  have 
only  realized  the  intentions  of  our  enemies  when  the  hostile  laws 
were  already  enacted.     The  very  success  and  growing  strength 
of  the  Church  will  make  our  enemies  double  their  hatred  and 
their  cunning.     Most  of  the  legislation  hurtful  to  us,  however, 
is  passed  without  any  thought  of  injuring  us.     What  means 
should  we  take  to  know  proposed  measures  of  legislation  and 
to  prevent,  if  possible,  what  is  harmful?     If  we  take  any  step 
in  this  direction,  although  all  Protestant  Churches  have  repre- 
sentatives in  Washington  as  all  interests  have,  except  ourselves, 
the  cry  will  be  raised  that  the  Church  is  in  politics,  but  that  cry 
has  been  heard  all  our  lives,  and  in  all  generations  back  to  the 
sanhedrin   that   condemned   Christ.     It  is   a   matter,   however, 
which  we  must  carefully  consider  and  upon  which  the  hierarchy 
will  desire  a  report. 

10.  CATHOLIC   BUREAU.— It   is   evident,   at   any   rate, 
that  the  general  committee  on  Catholic  interests  and  affairs  will 

need  headquarters  and  clerical  assistance;  otherwise  it  would 
be  unable  to  realize  the  purpose  of  its  creation.  Steps  should 
Jbe  taken  before  long  to  establish  such  a  bureau. 

11.  FINANCES.— Evidently,  too,  the  plan  of  action  which 
I  have  outlined  postulates  a  generous  financial  support.     Our 
•experiences,  however  in  the  campaign  for  funds  during  the  last 

two  years  should  make  us  realize,  as  we  have  never  done  before, 
our  possibilities.  I  am  bound  to  say,  however,  that  I  have  not 
yet  attained  the  confidence  of  some  members  of  the  hierarchy 
in  our  ability  to  raise  millions.  At  our  meeting  one  distinguished 
Archbishop  suggested  raising  a  million  dollars  for  the  Holy 
Father.  Another  Bishop  suggests  four  millions  annually  for  all 
Catholic  purposes,  and  still  another  would  set  the  mark  at  five 
millions.  I  am  sure  at  any  rate,  dear  Bishops  that  the  hierarchy 
would  welcome  the  judgment  which  your  own  experience  in  the 
United  War  Work  campaign  would  lead  you  to  form. 

The  foregoing  plan,  I  must  admit,  is  a  very  comprehensive 
one  and  furnishes  almost  enough  matter  of  thought  for  a  Plenary 

Council.  It  is  a  plan  that  perhaps  cannot  soon  be  realized  in  all 
its  scope,  yet  I  have  thought  it  worth  while  to  sketch  the  outline 
in  full.  Some  of  the  ideas  may  be  realized  soon  and  others  may 
be  seed  sown  now  which  will  sprout  and  bear  fruit  only  after 
many  years.  I  rely  on  your  excellent  practical  judgment  to 
select  for  our  programme  the  most  urgent  matters  and  the  most 
promising  ideas,  and  I  trust  that  when  the  hierarchy  meets  next, 
our  general  committee  on  Catholic  interests  and  affairs  will 
be  able  to  present  a  workable  plan  of  important  things  that 
ought  soon  to  be  accomplished. 


13 

THE   HOLY   SEE 

Rome,  as  the  Cardinal  mentions  in  the  first  point, 
Jfooks  to  America  to  be  the  leader  in  all  things  Catholic, 
and  to  set  an  example  to  other  nations. 

The  Holy  See,  at  present,  has  two  very  important 
needs — the  first  of  which  is  of  a  political  character  and 
the  second  of  a  financial.  The  first  need  consists  in  this, 
that  the  spiritual  sovereignty  of  the  Holy  See  ought  to- 
be  acknowledged  internationally,  and  the  second  one  is 
her  critical  financial  condition,  which  ought  to  be  helped 
so  as  to  guarantee  for  the  future  all  the  material 
means  that  are  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
Holy  See  and  of  her  offices.  The  Catholic  Church  in 
the  United  States  may  help  the  Holy  See  in  both  these 
fields  by  her  national  and  international  influence.  Let 
us  consider  first  the  necessity  of  international  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  sovereignty  of  the  Holy  See. 

SELF  DETERMINATION  OF  THE  CATHOLIC 
CHURCH. 


THE  Vatican  has  not  been  included  in  the  family 
of  sovereign  states  since  it  lost  its  temporal  power 
in  1870.  The  Pope  has  no  international  rights ;  his 
status  is  regulated  by  the  "law  of  guarantees"  of  1871 
enacted  by  the  Italian  parliament.     This  Italian  law 
guarantees  the  inviolability  of  the  Pope  and  secures 
to  him  the  enjoyment  of  certain  rights  and  privileges 


14 

ordinarily  enjoyed  by  sovereigns.  Hence,  it  is  clear,  that 
according  to  the  understanding  of  European  statesmen,, 
the  idea  of  sovereignty  always  included  the  temporal 
power  and  jurisdiction  over  a  certain  territory;  sover- 
eignty, therefore,  was  attached  to  a  territory  and  was 
possessed  as  long  as  the  territory  was  possessed,  and 
the  loss  of  territory  always  caused  the  loss  of  sover- 
eignty. That  such,  indeed,  was  the  understanding  of 
sovereignty  among  European  statesmen,  may  be  proved 
from  the  fact  which  happened  with  the  Vatican.  The 
sovereignty  of  the  Vatican  was  acknowledged  by  states- 
men only  as  long  as  the  Vatican  possessed  a  large  ter- 
ritory with  temporal  jurisdiction  over  it.  When  in  the 
year  of  1870  the  Vatican  had  lost  the  territory,  togeth- 
er with  the  temporal  power,  European  statesmen  con- 
cluded that  the  Vatican  had  lost  its  sovereignty;  this 
was  the  reason  why  the  Vatican  was  not  allowed  to 
send  its  delegate  to  any  peace  conference  in  the  Hague. 

That  such  idea  of  sovereignty  is  very  imperfect,, 
becomes  clear  to  everyone  who  pays  attention  to  the 
fact  that  sovereignty  is  a  supreme  power  over  the 
people,  who  acknowledge  it,  but  not  over  a  territory 
only. 

A  legislative  body  possesses  sovereignty  just  for 
the  reason  that  it  possesses  subjects  or  citizens  but  not 
because  it  possesses  a  territory,  so,  for  instance,  the 
Supreme  Power  of  the  United  States  or  of  France  pos- 
sesses a  supreme  sovereign  jurisdiction  over  its  citizens 
living  in  the  United  States  or  in  France.  If  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States  or  of  France  should  go  to  England, 
the  United  States  or  France  would  not  lose  its  sover- 
eignty over  him,  though  these  countries  do  not  possess 
a  sovereignty  over  the  territories  belonging  to  England. 

Therefore,  a  supreme  legislative  body  may  possess 
a  sovereignty  in  a  certain  field  over  its  citizens,  though. 


15 

they  do  not  live  in  one  territory  only,  but  all  over  the 
world.  Such  legislative  power  in  the  field  of  strictly 
spiritual  affairs  is  possessed  by  the  Church,  whose  su- 
preme headquarters  is  located  in  the  Vatican. 

The  spiritual  citizens  of  the  Catholic  Church  live 
in  almost  all  parts  of  the  globe,  and  though,  they  are 
the  citizens  of  their  respective  countries  in  the  field  of 
temporal  affairs,  at  the  same  time  as  regards  their 
religious  belief,  or  spiritual  affairs,  they  are  subor- 
dinated to  the  laws  of  the  Catholic  Church,  which  is 
ruled  by  her  governors  or  diocesan  bishops,  and  whose 
.Supreme  Authority  resides  in  the  Vatican.  The  Supreme 
Authority  of  the  Catholic  Church  situated  in  the  Vati- 
can possesses,  "de  facto,"  in  the  spiritual  field  a  sover- 
eignty over  her  citizens  no  matter  where  they  live; 
furthermore,  the  Supreme  Authority  of  the  Catholic 
Church  would  possess  that  sovereignty  even  if  it  were 
stationed  not  in  Rome  but  in  any  other  place,  for  this 
simple  reason  that  the  Church  sovereignty  is  a  conse- 
quence of  the  Church  having  her  own  citizens  but  not 
of  staying  in  a  certain  territory. 

The  opinion,  therefore,  of  European  statesmen, 
that  the  Vatican  has  lost  its  sovereignty  by  losing  the 
territory  over  which  it  had  a  civil  power,  is  uncritical 
and  evidently  it  confuses  the  spiritual  sovereignty, 
which  the  Vatican  exercised  over  its  citizens,  with  the 
lay  power,  which  the  Vatican  had  over  a  certain  terri- 
tory. 

The  Vatican  has  acquired  the  sovereignty  over  its 
spiritual  citizens,  not  on  account  of  the  fact  that  it 
had  a  certain  territory  in  Italy  over  which  it  exercised 
the  civil  power,  because  the  Vatican  had  possessed 
the  spiritual  sovereignty  over  its  citizens  even  before 
a  piece  of  land  in  Italy  was  given  to  it,  and  it  may  be 
;said,  that  the  land  with  the  civil  power  over  it,  was 


16 

given  to  the  Vatican  "ad  honorem,"  for  the  reason  of 
its  Spiritual  Sovereignty  over  all  Catholics  living  in 
the  different  parts  of  the  world. 

Therefore,  there  is  no  reason  to  admit,  that  the 
Vatican  lost  its  sovereignty  by  losing  a  piece  of  land 
and  the  civil  power  over  it,  because  it  did  not  lose  its 
citizens  over  whom  it  exercised  its  supreme  sovereign 
power  and  jurisdiction  in  the  spiritual  field. 

At  present,  we  live  in  a  time  of  International  De- 
mocracy and  Self  Determination.  The  idea  of  Inter- 
national Democracy  and  Self  Determination  until  now 
was  neither  adopted  nor  known  in  the  theories  and 
statutes  of  International  Law.  International  Democ- 
racy, that  will  be  the  consequence  of  the  League  of 
Nations,  will  not  be  based  on  the  political  balance  of 
powers  but  on  the  concert  of  those  nations  that  will 
belong  to  the  League  of  Nations,  according  to  the 
words  pronounced  by  President  Wilson  in  London. 

Hence,  the  political  balance  of  powers  which  was 
based  on  territories  will  not  be  the  basis  of  future  inter- 
national politics,  but  such  basis  will  be  the  citizens  of 
various  countries,  themselves,  represented  in  the 
League  of  Nations,  who  will  belong  to  one  family,  one 
concert  of  civilized  nations.  This  is  the  opinion  of 
President  Wilson,  expressed  in  London  in  the  presence 
of  the  representatives  of  the  Allied  countries. 

The  Catholic  Church — a  few  hundred  millions  of 
citizens,  who  are  ruled  by  one  uniform  legislation,  and 
by  one  permanent  government,  whose  head  resides  in 
the  Vatican — forms  a  spiritual  international  society 
possessing  her  own  means  to  reach  her  spiritual  aims, 
hence  this  society  and  its  supreme  headquarters  resid- 
ing in  the  Vatican  ought  to  possess  the  sovereignty 
approved  by  International  Law,  and  by  the  League 
of  Nations,  and  its  delegate  ought  to  belong  to  the 


17 

number  of  the  representatives  of  various  countries  in 
the  League  of  Nations.  The  Vatican  possesses  its  sov- 
ereignty in  the  spiritual  field  "de  facto,"  even  at  pres- 
ent, because  it  possesses  its  citizens,  it  sends  its  dele- 
gates to  different  countries;  moreover,  there  at  the 
Vatican  are  the  delegates  sent  by  different  countries  to 
represent  their  Catholic  citizens  and  to  treat  in  the  field 
of  spiritual  affairs.  The  Vatican  possesses  certain  laws 
generally  held  by  sovereigns  and  approved  by  the  Ital- 
ian parliament  by  the  so-called  "law  of  guarantees,"  but 
the  sovereignty  of  the  Vatican  is  not  approved  and 
acknowledged  by  International  Law. 

There  are  many  reasons  proving  that  the  Spiritual 
Sovereignty  of  the  Catholic  Church  ought  to  be  ac- 
knowledged by  the  concert  of  nations  and  that  the  dele- 
gate of  the  Church  should  be  included  among  the  dele- 
gates representing  sovereign  powers  belonging  to 
the  League  of  Nations. 

The  League  of  Nations  tends  to  introduce  better  in- 
ternational relations  among  nations;  it  desires  to  im- 
plant fraternal  love  among  peoples  in  order  to  advance 
humanity  toward  higher  aims  of  Christian  civilization. 

Hence  the  League  of  Nations  will  be  more  impor- 
tant than  all  other  treaties  among  nations  heretofore. 
All  other  treaties  were  based  on  the  political  balance 
and  the  territorial  and  military  strength  of  nations, 
whereas  the  League  of  Nations,  according  to  the  notion 
given  by  President  Wilson,  will  not  be  so  established, 
but  it  will  be  based  rather  on  the  good  disposition  and 
good  will  of  the  citizens  represented  in  the  Concert  of 
Nations.  Hence  the  League  of  Nations  will  deal  not 
only  with  the  materialistic  conditions  of  nations  but 
with  the  idealistic,  also.  One  of  the  important  purposes 
in  the  future  of  the  League  of  Nations  will  be  propor- 
tional reduction  of  military  forces,  but  wherever  the 


18 

physical  force  is  being  reduced,  the  moral  and  spiritual 
forces  must  be  cared  for  to  be  properly  developed.  Be- 
cause the  Vatican  is  the  representative  of  the  most  im- 
portant spiritual  and  moral  forces,  which  can  not  be 
neglected,  its  self  determination  in  the  spiritual  field 
ought  to  be  acknowledged  internationally. 

The  League  of  Nations  must  be,  "par  excellence/' 
an  international  institution,  because  otherwise  it  would 
not  have  a  sufficient  reason  for  existence.  There  is  no 
institution  in  the  world  as  international  as  the  Catholic 
Church.  The  Catholic  Church,  on  account  of  her  su- 
premely international  character,  never  heretofore  hu- 
miliated herself  so  much,  as  to  work  for  the  benefit  of 
some  one  nation  only,  sacrificing  the  welfare  of  other 
nations  for  its  sake,  but  she  works  equally  for  all  na- 
tions, having  in  view  in  the  first  place  their  spiritual 
and  moral  good. 

On  account  of  her  international  spirit  the  Catholic 
Church  is  willing  to  defend  any  nation  that  suffers  in- 
justice, as  it  did  in  the  case  of  England  during  the  time 
of  Napoleon  the  Great,  who  wanted  to  starve  England 
by  means  of  the  famous  "Continental  System."  The 
Catholic  Church  therefore  would  be  of  great  help  to  the 
League  of  Nations  if  her  sovereignty  in  the  field  of 
spiritual  and  moral  affairs  would  be  acknowledged  in- 
ternationally. 

At  present,  only  the  nations  belonging  to  the  Allies- 
(and  some  neutral  nations)  respect  law,  observe  order 
and  obey  the  authority  personified  in  the  representa- 
tives of  law.  There  are  nowadays  a  few  nations  as  Rus- 
sia, Germany,  Ukrainia  and  others,  where  the  demor- 
alized classes  of  people  want  to  overthrow  the  orderly 
condition,  and  they  are  strong  enough  to  tend  to  their 
aims  through  the  means  of  a  sufficiently  strong  army, 
killing  all  those  who  desire  to  defend  societies  and  civi- 
lization from  ruin. 


19 

The  Allied  countries  represented  in  the  League  of 
Nations  undoubtedly  desire  to  preserve  the  Christian 
civilization  from  a  ruin  that  is  menaced  by  Bolshe- 
vism, but  in  order  to  accomplish  such  noble  aim  a 

military  force  only,  is  not  sufficient,  because  this  force 
works  as  long  as  the  idea  of  order  and  obedience  is 
respected  by  soldiers,  and  as  soon  as  they  would  change 
their  minus  in  this  respect,  they  might  use  their  forces 
against  the  Allies. 

The  Catholic  Church  is  the  strongest  representative 
of  order,  of  obedience  coward  superiors  and  of  the  re- 
spect oi  law.  {She  always  has  tried  to  preserve  in  hu- 
manity anything  that  has  proved  to  be  worthy  of  it. 
On  that  account  she  was  relentlessly  criticized.  At  pres- 
ent the  social  order  and  respect  of  law  are  not  only 
criticized,  but  tiiey  are  already  overthrown  in  a  few 
countries  and  undermined  in  many,  if  the  League  of 
Nations  desires  to  help  the  civilized  world  to  establish 
an  orderly  condition  among  nations,  it  should  not  de- 
spise the  help  of  religion,  and  especially  the  organized 
powerful  spiritual  army  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

Bolshevism  is  one  of  the  most  serious  menaces 
that  the  civilized  world  meets  and  it  cannot  be  crushed 
by  an  army  only,  but  all  the  moral  and  spiritual  powers 
that  the  civilized  world  can  command  must  be  used  in 
order  to  free  humanity  from  such  calamity.  The  most 
etfective  antidote  for  Bolshevism  would  be  the  uplift 
of  human  tendencies,  which  are  at  present  criminalized. 
Those  remedies  that  exclude  religion  and  that  were 
proposed  by  some  atheistic  thinkers,  were  already 
tried,  and  proved  to  be  ineffective,  and  even  in  many 
instances  led  to  ruin.  If  the  representatives  of  the 
League  of  Nations,  leaving  aside  all  the  prejudices 
against  the  Catholic  Church,  would  include  her  repre- 
sentative among  its  members  and  would  acknowledge 


20 

the  spiritual  sovereignty  of  the  Church,  calling  her  to 
aid  the  efforts  of  the  League  in  raising  better  tenden- 
cies in  societies  in  developing  Christian  education  of 
the  masses,  they  would  get  rid  of  a  great  responsibility. 
The  necessity  of  a  more  religious  spirit  in  socie- 
ties is  acknowledged  not  only  by  the  Catholic  Church, 
but  by  most  of  the  religious  denominations,  especially 
Christian  denominations.  We  may  say  that  all  the 
religious  and  particularly  Christian  denominations, 
which  are  the  basis  of  our  civilization,  have  been  un- 
dermined in  the  last  fifty  years,  to  a  certain  extent,  by 
different  governments,  that  tried  to  reduce  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Church  and  to  suppress  religious  education 
of  the  masses.  Of  course,  it  was  a  mistake,  and  the 
consequences  of  this  mistake  are  seen  in  Bolshevism 
and  in  the  perversive,  antigovernmental  and  anarchistic 
spirit,  that  pervades  nations  at  present.  The  repre- 
sentatives of  the  League  of  Nations  considering  what 
has  happened  in  societies  so  far,  should  take  the  ques- 
tion of  religious  education  into  the  most  serious  con- 
sideration. 

If  the  League  of  Nations  would  neglect  to  ac- 
knowledge internationally,  religious  representatives,  it 
would  undermine  its  own  authority.  Of  course  Christ- 
ian religion  being  by  this  reduced  to  a  rather  private 
affair,  would  be  lessened  in  some  measure,  but  such  cir- 
cumstance would  only  hasten  anarchy  all  over  the 
world,  and  would  cause  sooner  a  greater  reaction  toward 
religion,  of  course  after  a  complete  ruin  of  present 
civilization.  The  representatives  of  different  govern- 
ments for  many  years  have  been  trying  to  suppress 
more  or  less  the  authority  of  the  Church  on  account  of  a 
certain  fear  that  otherwise  the  authority  of  the  state 
would  be  undermined,  but  there  is  no  reason  for  such  a 
fear  at  present.  The  representatives  of  nations  in  the 


21 

League  of  Nations  may  seriously  fear  the  suppression 
•of  their  authority  and  probably  a  complete  destruction 
of  it,  only  on  the  part  of  the  anarchistic  spirit,  which 
under  different  names  will  try  to  destroy  present  social 
order. 

If  the  League  of  Nations  would  not  acknowledge 
internationally  the  spiritual  sovereignty  of  the  Vatican, 
giving  to  the  guarantees  granted  by  the  Italian  parlia- 
ment, an  international  signification,  then  the  Vatican, 
the  Church,  would  have  no  obligation  whatever  toward 
the  League  of  Nations,  and  it  would  be  compelled  to 
•consider  the  League  of  Nations  as  a  diplomatic  body 
that  deals  only  with  military  means  in  the  develop- 
ment of  universal  peace. 

The  self-determination  of  the  church  as  a  conse- 
quence of  her  spiritual  sovereignty  requires  the  guaran- 
tees of  the  Vatican  granted  by  the  Italian  parliament, 
to  be  acknowledged  internationally,  so  that  the  Church 
could  be  able  to  call  the  bishops  of  the  Catholic  world 
for  an  ecumenical  council  without  any  obstacle.  At 
present  the  Italian  government  for  example  may  pro- 
hibit the  bishops  from  coming  to  Rome  for  such  a  coun- 
cil. Moreover  the  Italian  government  could  break  up 
the  debates  of  such  a  council,  and  discontinue  it,  es- 
pecially if  such  council  would  take  place  outside  of  the 
Vatican.  All  such  things,  which  evidently  are  against 
the  self-determination  of  the  church,  the  Italian  gov- 
ernment could  do,  because  the  sovereignty  and  self- 
determination  of  the  church  is  not  guaranteed  inter- 
nationally, though,  de  facto,  the  Church  possesses  it. 

In  a  similar  way  the  Italian  government  could 
raise  some  obstacles  in  gathering  the  Cardinals  for  a 
conclave.  It  is  true  that  the  present  Italian  govern- 
ment did  not  put  obstacles  in  the  way  of  calling  the 
Cardinals  to  the  last  conclave  at  which  the  present  Pope 
was  elected,  but  this  government  is  not  eternal  and  the 


22 

next  government  might  offend  the  self-determination 
of  the  church,  should  it  not  be  guaranteed  internation- 
ally. 

If  the  League  of  Nations  would  not  acknowledge 
internationally  the  self-determination  of  the  Church  and 
the  spiritual  sovereignty  of  the  Vatican  making  it  com- 
pletely independent  of  the  Italian  government,  the  fu- 
ture universal  international  ecumenical  council  which 
probably  will  take  place  in  the  near  future  would  have 
no  reason  to  acknowledge  the  international  character  of 
the  League  of  Nations.  It  would  acknowledge  this 
League  only  as  a  political  body,  that  outside  of  military 
and  materialistic  means  is  not  able  to  raise  itself  to 
higher  moral  and  spiritual  activities  toward  a  future 
universal  peace.  The  League  of  Nations,  being  of  such 
character,  would  look  in  the  eyes  of  the  Church  like  an 
institution  that  could  not  fulfil  the  great  purpose  of  uni- 
versal democracy. 

The  "Osservatore  Romano"  a  semi-official  organ  of 
the  Vatican  not  a  long  time  ago  had  a  few  observa- 
tions on  the  "Roman  Question ;"  it  said  among  others : — 
"The  Roman  question  exists  and  will  exist  until  the 
Holy  See  is  assured  of  that  normal  situation  which  is  its 
due  by  right  divine  and  which  it  cannot  renounce  with- 
out committing  suicide.  It  is  certainly  true  that  the 
idea  of  the  Vatican  'is  to  render  the  Church  independent 
of  Italian  civil  power/  That  is  where  the  Roman  ques- 
tion lies.  If  this  liberty  and  independence  were  to  be 
lacking  with  the  acquiescence  of  the  Holy  See,  not  only 
in  reality,  but  also  in  appearance,  and  the  people  of  the 
world  were  to  be  persuaded  that  the  Pope  was  depen- 
dent upon  any  civH  power,  the  Church  would  disinte- 
grate into  so  many  national  Churches — that  is  to  say, 
it  would  cease  to  exist.  Governments  would  rightly 
refuse  to  tolerate  in  their  States  the  action  of  Pontifi- 


23 

power  that  was  dependent  upon  a  political  authori- 
ty." 

Therefore,  as  long  as  the  Italian  guarantee  given 
to  the  Vatican,  would  not  be  recognized  internationally, 
and  as  long  as  the  Vatican  would  not  be  authorized 
to  send  its  delegate  to  take  place  among  the  represen- 
tatives in  the  League  of  Nations,  so  long  the  Vatican 
would  be  considered  as  dependent  upon  the  Italian  gov- 
ernment. 

On  account  of  this  attitude  of  the  Vatican  towards 
the  Italian  government  all  the  Catholic  Churches  among 
all  nations,  and  all  catholics  all  over  the  world  are  to  a 
certain  extent  dependent  upon  the  Italian  government. 

Whether  all  the  governments  ruling  all  those  coun- 
tries where  Catholics  do  live,  like  such  condition  or  dis- 
like it,  we  could  not  tell,  but  nevertheless,  we  would 
not  hesitate  to  say,  that  not  only  the  national  honor 
but  even  in  many  instances  the  political  necessity  of 
every  country  where  catholics  live,  should  require  the 
Vatican  to  possess  a  sovereignty  in  the  field  of  spiritual 
affairs,  and  to  be  entirely  independent  upon  the  Italian 
government. 

The  Catholics  in  Europe  in  various  places  have 
expressed  their  demand  in  reference  to  the  political 
independence  of  the  Vatican  and  in  reference  to  the 
international  acknowledgment  of  its  spiritual  and  moral 
sovereignty.  Would  it  not  be  advisable  for  the  Catho- 
lics in  the  United  States  to  demand  from  the  League 
of  Nations  to  acknowledge  the  Vatican  as  politically 
independent  of  the  Italian  Government,  and,  further- 
more, demand  the  spiritual  and  moral  sovereignty  of 
the  Vatican  to  be  acknowledged  internationally.  This 
is  a  necessity  required  by  our  national  honor.  Being 
Catholics,  we  are  in  the  spiritual  field  dependent  upon 


24 

the  Vatican;  therefore,  if  the  Vatican  would  be  political- 
ly dependent  upon  the  Italian  King  or  Italian  Govern- 
ment, we,  consequently,  would  be  considered  as  de- 
pendent upon  it  as  well.  The  same  thing  may  be  said 
about  any  Catholic  nation.  Therefore,  our  national 
honor  and  the  honor  of  every  Catholic  nationality  de- 
sire the  Vatican  to  be  politically  independent  of  the 
Italian  Government,  and  its  spiritual  sovereignty  to  be 
acknowledged  internationally.  If  the  Catholics  of  the 
United  States  would  express  such  ideas  to  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  League  of  Nations  just  as  the  Cath- 
olics of  some  other  countries  have  done,  it  would,  un- 
doubtedly, help  the  Vatican  to  become  independent  of 
Italy,  which  is  very  much  desirable  for  the  welfare  of 
the  Church. 

In  reference  to  the  financial  condition  of 
the  Vatican,  we  would  say,  that  if  the  sov- 
ereignty of  the  Holy  See  in  the  spiritual  field 
would  be  acknowledged  internationally,  her  finan- 
cial condition  would  be  improved  at  once.  The  collec- 
tion of  Peter's  Pence  was  very  often  interfered  with 
in  many  European  countries  just  on  account  of  the  fact 
that  the  spiritual  sovereignty  of  the  Church  was  not 
recognized  internationally.  In  the  United  States,  the 
collection  of  Peter's  Pence  was  never  interfered  with  by 
anybody  ,and  in  proportion  to  the  Catholic  population 
of  the  United  States,  it  was  always  dignified.  His 
Eminence  says  that  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States 
are  in  a  position  to  manifest  in  a  way  that  will  give 
an  edification  to  the  whole  Church  their  generous  loyal- 
ty to  the  father  of  Christendom.  The  sum  of  money  that 
may  be  raised,  the  Cardinal  considers  in  the  eleventh 
point  of  his  letter.  In  this  point  the  Cardinal  says  that 
the  position  of  the  Church  is  stronger  at  present,  than 
ever  before.  There  is  no  doubt,  that  the  generosity  of 
the  Catholics,  and  even  of  the  entire  American  society 


25 

is,  at  present,  much  more  developed  than  it  was  before 
the  war.  The  people  are  accustomed,  at  present,  to 
different  drives  for  different  purposes,  not  only  politi- 
cal and  social,  but  even  religious;  hence,  the  collection 
of  an  unprecedented  sum  of  money  for  the  Holy  See 
may  become  easier  than  one  thinks.  For  this  Pontifical 
fund  there  may  be  collected  not  only  money  in  cash,  but 
Victory  and  Liberty  Bonds,  and  not  only  Catholics  but 
many  Christinas  of  other  denominations  will  contribute 
their  Bonds  for  that  purpose.  In  such  a  case,  the  money 
that  was  used  by  the  United  States  for  higher  humani- 
tarian purposes  will  be  used  again  for  religious  pur- 
poses. 

The  Holy  See  is,  at  present,  in  a  critical  financial 
position,  and  it  might  be  in  the  near  future  in  a  still 
more  critical  state.  There  will  probably  follow  many 
separations  between  States  and  Church  in  many  Eu- 
ropean countries. 

We  know  what  a  European  separation  between 
State  and  Church  generally  means  ;  it  means  a  confisca- 
tion of  the  Church  property  as  it  happened  in  France. 
After  separation,  the  impoverished  Churches  will  need 
a  great  deal  of  money  for  the  re-establishing  of  their 
affairs  to  a  normal  condition,  and,  therefore,  the  faith- 
ful will  be  unable  to  contribute  very  much  for  the  Holy 
See;  at  least,  for  a  certain  time.  The  Holy  See  will 
look  to  America,  as  His  Eminence  said,  for 


The  Cardinal  says  that  we  should  give  an  example 
to  other  countries  of  how  to  help  the  Holy  See  in  her 
critical  financial  condition.  I  believe  we  could  give 
such  an  example  by  raising  the  Papal  Fund  of  $25,- 
000,000  ;  we  would  raise  this  at  once  if  we  would  collect 
Liberty  and  Victory  Bonds.  The  collection  of  $25,- 
000,000  at  one  time  might  look  paradoxical,  but  it  will 
be  realized  if  there  would  be  adopted  the  method  used 


26 

by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  in  selling  Lib- 
erty and  Victory  Bonds.  The  Government  of  the  United 
States  called  upon  the  public  in  many  ways — always 
effectively;  it  made  great  mass  meetings  separately 
for  the  different  nationalities  in  order  to  raise  their 
ambitions  and  in  order  to  give  a  chance  to  show  what 
they  were  able  to  do  for  the  United  States  in  her  need. 
Why  could  not  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States  use 
such  methods  in  order  to  collect  $25,000,000  worth  of 
Liberty  and  Victory  Bonds  for  the  Papal  Fund?  At 
present,  there  is  a  great  opportunity  to  collect  this  sum 
of  money,  because  the  people  would  not  mind  to  con- 
tribute some  of  their  Bonds  for  the  Vatican.  This  sum 
of  money  would  give  over  $800,000  of  interest  a  year. 
But  even  if  there  would  not  be  collected  so  much,  un- 
doubtedly the  collection  of  Liberty  and  Victory  Bonds 
would  be  more  or  less  successful  and  would  make  an 
unprecedented  sum  of  money,  which  would  greatly 
help  the  critical  condition  of  the  Holy  See. 


27 

THE  HOME  MISSIONS 

The  Cardinal  finds  the  Church  after  the  war  in 
a  stronger  position  than  ever  before,  and  he  gives  the 
reason  for  it.  At  the  same  time,  His  Eminence  asks 
whether  it  would  be  possible  to  extend  the  Catholic 
activity  still  more,  and  whether  the  mind  of  the  Ameri- 
can public  could  be  reached  more  effectively.  We  have, 
said  the  Cardinal,  various  institutions,  as  the  Catholic 
Church  Extension,  the  Missionary  Union,  the  Negro 
and  the  Indian  Mission  and  several  others ;  would  it  be 
well  to  re-consider  the  whole  problem  of  our  Home  Mis- 
sions, which  is,  of  course,  the  chief  field  of  our  duty. 

The  mentioned  institutions  that  have  already  done 
enormous  work  in  the  field  of  Home  Mission  will,  un- 
doubtedly, draw  some  new  plans  for  the  future,  be- 
cause after  the  war  there  have  been  raised  many  ques- 
tions and  created  some  new  conditions  that  did  not  exist 
before.  In  our  treatise  we  will  mention  only  the  ques- 
tion of  Americanization.  The  Americanization  problem 
at  present  is  a  theme  discussed  by  all  the  American 
papers,  by  many  statesmen,  public  officers,  educators 
and  by  the  American  public  at  large.  Even  across  the 
sea  there  is  some  talk  of  Americanizing  Europe,  of  in- 
troducing various  American  systems  and  schemes  to 
the  European  commerce,  education,  politics,  etc. 

In  our  country  this  problem  is  the  most  important 
along  the  line  of  social  activity. 

The  United  States  of  America  are  a  uniform  Govern- 
ment but  they  are  not  a  uniform  homogeneous  people. 
One  hundred  forty  three  years  of  political  existence 
and  of  political  liberty  could  not  transform  all  the  ele- 
ments that  have  come  to  this  country  into  one  people. 
Undoubtedly,  in  the  future  all  these  elements  will  blend 


28 

together  and  will  create  a  homogeneous  people.  The 
process  leading  to  this  aim  is  called  Assimilation— in 
our  case — Americanization.  There  exist  established 
historical  and  social  laws  on  whose  basis  this  assimila- 
tion will  be  performed  just  as  it  waa  performed  in 
other  countries.  The  process  of  the  American  assimila- 
tion may  be  developed  normally  and  it  as  well  may  be 
interfered  with  by  the  people  who  do  not  understand 
such  processes;  in  this  last  case,  there  would  follow 
reactions  and  the  self  same  process  would  be  retarded. 

Along  the  line  of  Americanization  there  is  a  great 
task  for  the  Catholic  Church  by  using  all  forces  and  by 
making  all  possible  efforts  in  order  to  prevent  the  ele- 
ments from  falling  away  from  the  faith  through  the 
processs  of  Americanization.  Many  Protestant  organi- 
zations make  all  possible  efforts  to  influence  the  non- 
Americanized  elements  so  as  to  persuade  them  that  the 
Catholic  Church  in  America  is  behind  the  time,  and 
they  present  the  Catholicism  in  such  a  light  as  to  make 
it  uninteresting. 

The  American  people  as  a  totality,  at  present, 
is  not  Catholic  and  it  does  not  possess  any  Catholic 
tradition;  such  tradition  is  possessed  only  by  some 
elements.  In  the  present  tendency  to  Americanization 
there  is  not  very  much  of  place  for  Catholicism,  and, 
hence,  Catholicism  may  be  very  easily  eliminated,  while 
these  elements,  through  the  process  of  Americaniza- 
tion will  be  gradually  assimilating  to  the  totality  of 
the  American  people.  Hence,  Home  Mission  work  must 
be  also  turned  to  the  Catholic  foreign  elements,  in  order 
to  guide  the  Americanization  spirit  in  the  way  of  pre- 
serving the  Catholic  spirit,  while  each  element  is  grad- 
ually assimilating  to  the  great  American  organism. 

The  religious  Catholic  traditions  of  each  foreign 
element  are  connected  with  their  national  patriotic 


29 

traditions.  For  the  fact  that  the  national  patriotic  tra- 
ditions of  each  element  will  be  gradually  melting,  the 
religious  traditions  might  melt  as  well,  and  might  be 
gradually  substituted  by  the  American  non-sectarian 
spirit ! 

The  Catholic  tradition  of  the  American  English 
Catholics  (8,,000,000)  will  be  sufficient  for  this  element 
only,  and  it  may  preserve  in  Catholicism  this  one  ele- 
ment only.  Other  Catholic  elements  while  being  Ameri- 
canized may  be  absorbed  by  the  general  American  so- 
called  non-sectarian  spirit,  unless  through  the  efforts 
of  Home  Mission  and  Catholic  press  (look  at  the  article 
on  Catholic  press)  they  will  be  led  through  a  few  gen- 
erations in  such  a  way  as  to  implant  the  Catholic  spirit 
connected  with  the  American  traditions,  that  will  be, 
on  the  one  hand,  American  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
will  possess  some  coloring,  reminding  the  national  tra- 
dition of  the  melting  elements.  This  coloring  will  be 
a  sympathetic  basis  that  will  preserve  the  Catholic 
tradition  and  will  help  it  to  enter  into  the  American 
people. 

The  implanting  of  the  Catholic  tradition  into  the 
American  Protestant  and  non-sectarian  elements  is  a 
Tery  difficult  task,  which  will  require  a  very  long  time 
and  which  cannot  be  accomplished  by  the  American 
English  Catholics  (8,000,000)  only;  but  when  other 
Catholic  foreign  elements  (9,000,000)  in  America  will 
pass  through  the  process  of  Americanization  without 
losing  their  Catholicism,  which  they  will  introduce  into 
the  great  American  organism,  then  Catholicism  will 
begin  to  bloom  in  the  American  national  soul.  These 
flowers  of  Catholic  faith  will  develop  soon,  because  the 
so-called  foreign  Catholic  elements  are  very  prolific. 
(Italians,  Germans,  Poles,  Slovaks,  Ukrainians,  Lithu- 
anians, etc.,)  and  by  mutual  relations  with  the  Ameri- 


so 

can  non-sectarian  and  Protestant  elements  they  will 
gradually  propagate  Catholicism.  Such  a  happy  future 
may  happen  only  if  the  process  of  Americanization  will 
be  controlled  by  the  Catholic  American  hierarchy  in 
such  a  way  as  to  attract  the  entire  confidence  of  all 
the  Catholic  foreign  elements,  and  to  convince  these 
elements  that  the  Church  will  lead  them  through  the 
process  of  Americanization  better  than  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  non-sectarian  American  spirit. 

Foreign  American  elements  are  willing  to  be  grad- 
ually Americanized,  but  they  will  try  to  preserve  some 
of  their  national  coloring,  some  of  their  customs,  etc.; 
such  tendency  is  probably  intended  by  the  laws  of 
history,  because  we  see  such  coloring  preserved  among 
the  uniform,  crystalized  European  nations.  It  may  be 
that  through  such  proceeding  all  national  talents  of 
the  elements  are  better  preserved  for  the  new  organism 
that  gradually  absorbs  various  elements. 

In  the  Peace  Treaty,  signed  by  all  the  representa- 
tives of  the  Allied  nations  on  the  one  hand,  and  by  the 
representatives  of  the  Central  Powers  on  the  other 
hand,  there  are  paragraphs  clearly  expressing  that 
minorities  among  nations  ought  to  be  allowed  to  pre- 
serve their  national  customs,  religion,  languages,  etc. 
As  regards  the  Jews,  it  is  mentioned  that  their  Sab- 
bath ought  to  be  protected  by  the  law  even  to  such  an 
extent  that  they  cannot  be  called  to  the  courts  on  the 
Sabbath.  This  should  be  preserved  in  all  the  republics 
that  signed  the  Treaty  of  Peace — by  Poland,  Czecho- 
slovaks, Jugo-Slavs,  etc.  Jews  say  that  this  rule 
shall  be  observed  among  all  the  nations.  The  Treaty 
of  Peace  is  supposed  to  be  the  basis  of  the  League  of 
Nations,  and  the  League  of  Nations  will  try  to  observe 
that  in  the  future. 

In  Philadelphia  was  established  not  long  ago,    an 


31 

institution  called  the  University  of  Christology  and 
League  of  Nations,  for  the  realization  of  universal  and 
abiding  peace — personal,  domestic,  national  and  inter- 
national. The  aim  of  the  institution,  as  its  founders- 
say  is:  "Truth,  righteousness  and  peace  to  all  fath- 
ers, mothers,  children,  homes,  cities,  nations,  the 
world."  Already  many  persons  belong  to  this  institu- 
tion, among  whose  number  we  could  find  clergymen 
(Protestant)  of  different  denominations,  lawyers, 
physicians,  students,  public  officers,  etc.  The  members 
of  this  University  begin  Home  Missions,  which  they 
will  develop  on  the  basis  of  the  Peace  Treaty  and  the 
League  of  Nations.  They  desire  to  control  the  social 
processes  of  this  country;  they  will  try  to 
control  the  great  process  of  Americanization,  and,  fol- 
lowing the  principles  of  the  League  of  Nations,  they 
will  try  to  lead  this  process  in  a  way  as  to  grasp  the 
sympathy  of  all  the  elements  that  live  in  the  United 
States,  and  that  gradually  will  be  melted  into  one 
American  uniform  people.  It  is  undoubted  that  this 
institution,  as  well  as  the  Union  of  all  the  Churches. 
(Protestant),  desires  to  introduce  the  doctrine  of  Christ 
into  the  practice  all  over  America,  and  so  they  will 
implant  Christian  tradition,  but  that  such  tradition, 
will  be  absolutely  indifferent  for  Catholicism,  is  un- 
doubted. 

Hence,  the  Catholic  Home  Missions  in  their  fu- 
ture work,  inasmuch  as  there  ought  to  be  taken  into 
consideration  all  the  new  movements  which  began  after 
the  war,  will  have  a  very  difficult  task  to  perform.  This 
is  the  reason  why  His  Eminence,  foreseeing  the  neces- 
sity of  a  greater  activity  on  the  part  of  the  Church, 
advises  to  revise  the  programmes  of  our  institutions 
dealing  somehow  or  other  with  Home  Missions.  We 


32 


believe  that  the  Knights  of  Columbus  and  the  Catholic 
Extension  Society  may  help  in  the  most  effective  way 
our  future  Catholic  greater  activity. 


33 

FOREIGN   MISSIONS 

Rightly,  His  Eminence  says,  that  the  United  States 
liave  acquired  after  this  war  a  great  authority  in  the 
world.  The  European  world  considers  America  as  a 
Protestant  country  and  our  Catholic  resources  and 
abilities  are  not  known  there.  Undoubted  it  is  that  we 
possess  great  means,  resources  and  facilities  for  pro- 
pagating the  Catholic  truth  across  the  seas  and  the 
great  horizon  of  activity  is  open  for  the  American 
Catholic  Church  in  this  field.  Our  country,  at  present, 
is  triumphant  as  the  author  and  the  initiator  of  In- 
ternational Democracy — as  the  saver  of  European  civili- 
sation from  the  slavery  of  militarism  and  as  the  nour- 
isher  of  the  starving  nations.  Many  countries,  at 
present,  adopt  our  educational  and  commercial  sys- 
tems. They  want  to  Americanize  themselves,  because 
they  believe,  that  our  methods  in  many  fields  are  the 
"best.  If  such  is  the  situation,  if  we,  at  present,  have 
such  influence  and  open  field  for  action,  why  could 
not  our  Church  avail  herself  of  such  an  opportunity  in 
the  field  of  Foreign  Missions  ?  We  have  our  best  demo- 
cratic methods  of  how  to  raise  churches,  schools,  asy- 
lums, hospitals,  beneficial,  charitable,  and  educational 
institutions  without  any  help  on  the  part  of  the  govern- 
ment ;  we  could  offer  our  methods  to  democratized  Eu- 
rope, where  many  separations  between  Church  and 
state  will  follow,  and  where  the  newly  born  govern- 
ments will  be  unable  to  help  the  republics  in  this  field. 

All  these  countries  that,  at  present,  admire  our 
American  system  would  soon  admire  our  methods  along 
the  line  of  Catholic  activity.  They  will  need  our  help 
in  many  countries, — not  only  in  Russia,  Poland  and  Ger- 


34 

many  but  even  in  England,  Ireland  and  France. 

The  Catholic  Church  in  America  possesses  enor- 
mous abilities  to  perform  some  kind  of  great  mission 
among  European  democratized  countries  after  the  war, 
because  she  possesses  the  Catholics  who  represent  all 
the  nations  and  who  understand  the  psychology  of 
these  nations;  our  American  seminaries  and  colleges, 
our  missionary  orders  have  representatives  of  the  dif- 
ferent extractions  and,  if  these  institutions  will  not 
neglect  the  study  of  foreign  languages  their  future 
work  in  the  field  of  Foreign  European  Missions  will  be 
a  great  success. 

Some  American  writers  state  that  the  United 
States,  which  in  a  miniature  represents  all  nations  and 
races,  possesses  all  the  national  abilities  and  talents  of 
these  races  and,  hence,  it  will  perform  in  the  future 
a  great  international  and  inter-racial  historical  mission, 
which  it  has  started  to  play  already.  The  Catholic 
Church  in  the  United  States,  which  counts,  according  to 
the  newest  statistics,  about  seventeen  million  members, 
includes  the  population  of  the  different  extractions, 
and  hence  possesses  international  combined  abilities  to 
carry  on  foreign  missions,  not  only  in  Asia  and  Africa 
but  in  Europe  as  well.  Decading  European  Protestant- 
ism, the  developing  socialism — Bolshevism — and  differ- 
ent kinds  of  perversive  systems — all  are  the  signs  of 
the  present  time. 

The  European  Protestantism,  not  only  in  Germany 
but  even  in  Russia  (Orthodox  Church)  is  falling  down 
and,  therefore,  there  is  a  great  opportunity  for  the 
Catholic  Church  to  extend  her  activity.  We  have  the 
best  democratic  methods  for  this  purpose,  whereas 
the  representatives  of  the  Church  across  the  seas  being 
accustomed  to  governmental  protection  and  governmen- 
tal salaries  might  not  have  enough  experience  to  de- 


35 

velop  the  Catholic  activities  in  democratic  societies. 
Our  American  Catholics  can  not  be  indifferent  to  such 
an  opportunity,  which,  at  present,  is  offered  to  Cath- 
olicism, and  if  they  would  be  indifferent  and  would 
not  begin  great  preparations  for  the  new  Foreign  Mis- 
sions they  would  be  a  cause  of  a  great  loss  for  the 
Church.  The  American  Protestants  desire  to  make  a 
great  union  of  their  Churches,  in  order  to  prepare 
themselves  to  carry  on  a  new  future  European  mission, 
^nd,  hence,  the  American  Catholics  ought  to  begin  at 
present  special  preparations  for  Foreign  European 
Missions. 


36 

Catholic  Literature  and  Catholic 
Press 

One  of  the  main  points  raised  by  the  Cardinal  un- 
der the  headlines  of  Catholic  Literature  and  Catholic 
Press  is,  that  there  is  a  lack  of  articles  on  Catholic 
affairs  in  the  American  literature  and  press.  There  is 
enough  information  along  this  line  in  the  Catholic 
literature  and  press,  but  it  is  read  only  by  the  Catho- 
lics. This  very  important  point  suggests  to  us  an  idea, 
that  there  ought  to  be  literary  productions  and  maga- 
zines intended  for  the  American  public  at  large,  writ- 
ten by  Catholic  authors.  At  present,  we  do  not  have 
such  productions.  The  press,  through  newspapers  and 
magazines,  forms  public  opinion  on  all  subjects  and 
the  reason  that  public  opinion  in  the  United  States 
is  very  often  prejudiced  in  its  ideas  in  reference  to 
many  Catholic  affairs  is,  that  it  is  formed  by  non- 
Catholics.  The  only  way  to  help  this  is  reading  articles 
by  Catholic  authors  in  newspapers  and  magazines  that 
are  commonly  known  as  non-sectarian.  Very  often  non- 
sectarian  magazines  will  not  accept  writings  of  Catho- 
lic authors  on  Catholic  subjects;  hence,  the  necessity 
rises  of  having  such  non-sectarian  magazines,  that 
would  be  the  property  of  Catholic  corporations  issued 
by  Catholic  authors  under  a  leadership  of  the  Catholic 
hierarchy. 

Why  large  magazines  intended  for  the  American 
public  at  large,  treating  on  all  the  subjects  that  inter- 
est American  public  at  large,  could  not  be  published  by 
Catholic  authors?  In  such  large  magazines,  Catho- 
licism would  not  be  the  subject  of  every  issue,  but 
only  when  the  need  would  be  of  illuminating  public 


37 

opinion  on  some  affairs  referring  to  Catholic  questions* 
In  connection  with  this,  we  would  like  to  point 
out  that  in  the  United  States  there  are  about  nine  mil 
lion  Catholics  reading  newspapers  published  in  foreign 
languages.  Many  of  these  papers  are  anti-clerical;  al- 
most in  every  edition  they  undermine  the  authority  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  clergy,  criticise  the  Holy  Father, 
the  American  Catholic  Hierarchy  and  propagate  per- 
versive ideas.  American  Catholic  papers  issued  in 
foreign  languages  very  often  are  unable  to  resist  ef- 
fectively the  attacks  of  anti-clerical  papers,  the  more 
so,  because  the  American  Catholic  papers  published 
in  foreign  languages  are  not  organized  as  the  anti- 
clerical papers  are. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  controls  all 
the  papers  published  in  foreign  languages,  and  it  has. 
taken  under  its  guidance  the  union  of  the  foreign  pa- 
pers published  in  this  country.  Of  course,  this  union 
is  non-sectarian,  and  the  non-sectarian  papers  are 
cared  for  the  most  by  the  union. 

That  the  American  papers  published  in  foreign 
languages  and  read  by  over  nine  millions  of  Catholics 
ought  to  be  in  some  closer  connection  with  the  English 
Catholic  newspapers  published  in  this  country,  is  un- 
doubted. There  ought  to  be  a  great  union  of  the  Cath- 
olic press  in  the  United  States,  which  ought  to  com- 
prise not  only  the  English  Catholic  newspapers,  but 
even  those  published  in  foreign  languages. 

Articles  on  Catholic  affairs  directed  by  ecclesiasti- 
cal superiors  ought  to  appear  uniformally  in  all  the 
Catholic  newspapers  published  in  this  country.  For  the 
fact  that  a  great  many  newspapers  published  in  foreign 
languages  are  anti-clerical  as  a  rule,  and  some  of  them 
show  their  anti-clerical  spirit  only  periodically,  the 


38 

Catholic  American  papers  published  in  foreign  lan- 
guages have  a  great  task  in  defending  Catholicism;  very 
often  they  are  unable  to  perform  their  duty  effectively. 
For  this  reason,  many  Catholics  become  indifferent  to 
the  Church  and  often,  sooner  or  later,  pass  to  the  class. 
of  her  enemies. 

All  American  papers  published  in  foreign  lan- 
guages, notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  Americaniza- 
tion spirit  is  rapidly  propagating,  will  still  exist  for 
many  years  and  may  be  for  always,  as  they  exist  in 
other  already  crystalized  and  homogeneous  countries; 
they  will  become  always  more  anti-clerical,  if  the  Amer- 
ican Catholic  press  published  in  foreign  languages  will 
not  be  helped  somehow  or  other.  The  best  help  in 
this  regard  would  be  the  establishing  of  a  great  union 
of  Catholic  American  press,  that  would  be  guided  by 
the  Catholic  Hierarchy.  This  union  should  possess  dif- 
ferent branches  for  the  American  Catholic  papers  pub- 
lished in  foreign  languages.  As  to  advertisements  there 
also  ought  to  be  some  kind  of  mutual  help  and  under- 
standing among  all  the  Catholic  papers  published  in 
the  United  States  in  all  languages.  Such  union  ought 
to  protect  the  Catholic  commercial  world.  The  rich 
non-Catholic  American  firms,  seeing  uniformity  and 
considerable  force  in  the  Catholic  American  press, 
would  give  their  advertisements  to  the  union,  and  the 
union  would  distribute  them  among  the  Catholic  pa- 
pers; hence,  the  Catholic  press  would  be  in  a  better 
financial  condition  than  it  is  at  present. 


89 

SOCIAL   WORK 


"Three  things,  in  my  opinion,"  says  the  Cardinal, 
"are  needed  in  the  field  of  social  and  charitable  work. 
First — the  presentation,  definite,  clear  and  forceful,  of 
social  Catholic  principles.  Second — more  knowledge  as 
to  the  best  methods  of  Catholic  social  and  charitable 
work.  Third — a  more  general  impulse  to  put  our  social 
principles  and  methods  into  operation." 

These  three  points  embrace  probably  the  future 
Catholic  activity  along  the  line  of  social  and  charitable 
work.  We  desire  to  discuss  a  little,  only  on  the  third 
point,  which  speaks  about  a  more  general  impulse  in 
putting  our  social  principles  and  methods  into  opera- 
tion. This  point  is  so  important  that  even  if  we  have 
the  best  principles  and  methods  for  the  development 
of  social  and  charitable  work,  if  there  would  be  a  lack 
of  general  impulse  and  of  general  interest  for  Catholic 
social  doctrine,  our  work  would  not  be  very  effective. 

"The  Church,"  says  further  the  Cardinal,  "has  a 
great  work  of  social  education  and  social  welfare  lying 
before  it.  Here,  again,  the  hierarchy  must  take  the 
lead."  We  would  add,  the  lead  also  over  those  millions 
who  are  inclined  to  socialism,  bolshevism,  anarchism, 
and,  in  general,  to  all  subversive  doctrines; — they  are 
not  yet  bolsheviks,  socialists  or  anarchists,  but  that 
they  soon  might  become  such,  is  only  question  of 
time.  All  mentioned  subversive  doctrines  are  anti- 
Catholic  ;  they  tolerate,  however,  Protestantism,  and  we 
may  say,  that  Protestantism,  being  an  elastic  religion, 
is  more  sympathetic  for  all  social  modernists.  As  the 
most  of  social  modernists  belong  to  foreign  elements, 
it  is  very  probable  that  the  Americanization  of  these 


40 

elements  will  cure  them,  at  least  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
make  of  them  sound-minded  reformers ;  but  this  Ameri- 
canization will  lead  them  straightly  to  Protestantism  or 
non-sectarianism.  The  Catholic  Church  may  prevent 
that  by  taking  under  control  all  the  social  work.  The 
Church  is  far  more  able  to  do  this,  than  all  the  Pro- 
testant denominations  in  the  United  States,  not  only 
for  the  reason  that  she  possesses  a  sound  doctrine,  but 
also  because  she  has  in  her  bosom  the  representatives 
of  all  the  elements  through  which  she  can  act,  using  her 
own  methods  of  Americanization. 

That  an  immediate  and  intelligent  social  action  is 
necessary  in  the  United  States  if  we  want  to  avoid 
serious  difficulty  in  the  near  future  and  a  persecution 
of  the  Church  is  clearly  stated  by  Mr.  Alexander  Rorke 
in  "The  Columbian."  Mr.  Rorke  is  assistant  district 
attorney  in  New  York.  He  is  a  graduate  of  Georgetown 
School  of  Law;  he  is  a  member  of  Castilian  Council, 
Knights  of  Columbus.  Being  an  eminent  lawyer  and  a 
good  specialist  of  Catholic  sociology,  he  profoundly  un- 
derstands the  present  critical  social  condition. 

Mr.  Rorke  among  others  says : 

Thoughtful  citizens  are  not  surprised  that  the  poli- 
tical, industrial,  social  and  moral  conditions  of  the  world 
are  in  a  state  of  upheaval  and  threatened  revolution. 

The  bitterness  engendered  by  the  Peace  Confer- 
ence, the  proposed  League  of  Nations,  the  shadow  of 
Prohibition,  the  high  cost  of  living,  the  protests  against 
the  reduction  of  war  time  wages,  the  experiment  of  the 
proletariat  in  Russia  and  elsewhere,  the  threat  of  direct 
massed  action  by  labor  throughout  the  world,  these 
and  many  other  matters  have  begun  to  impress  Ameri- 
cans with  the  idea  that  we  have  been  sleeping  over  a 
veritable  revolutionary  magazine  that  may  be  fired  at 
any  moment,  with  disastrous  results  to  our  civilization. 


41 
The  Problem  of  the  Day 

By  far  the  greatest  problem  of  today  is  the  social 
or  labor  question.  A  great  struggle  is  raging  between 
capital  and  labor.  The  conflict  is  not  recent,  but  it  is 
only  recently  that  the  country  has  begun  to  realize 
that  it  is  serious.  In  our  own  country  the  riots  of  Hay- 
market  Square,  Homestead,  Lattimer,  Paterson,  Law- 
rence, Calumet  and  Colorado  have  been  distinct  warn- 
ings to  civilians  and  public  officials  alike:  "It  is  not 
surprising  that  the  spirit  of  revolutionary  change, 
which  has  long  been  predominant  in  the  nations  of  the 
world,  should  have  passed  beyond  politics  and  made  its 
influence  felt  in  the  cognate  field  of  practical  economy/1 

While  conservative  statesmen  snugly  plan  to  re- 
store the  ante-war  status  of  devastated  nations,  while 
private  capital  schemes  to  increase  its  profits,  while 
patriotic  organized  labor  demands  a  continuance  of  war- 
time  high  wages,  while  Prohibition  prepares  to  enforce 
its  decrees  and  many  Christian  Churches  are  advocat- 
ing a  "League"  for  mutual  aid  and  protection,  the  radi- 
cal agitator  denounces  them  all  as  the  enemies  of  hu- 
manity, and  threatens  them  with  the  torch  and  sword 
o2  the  social  revolution,  unless  they  acquiesce  in  his 
demands. 

For  months  the  Red  radical  has  bombarded  us  with 
his  incendiary  literature  and  speeches.  He  paraded 
with  the  red  flag  shortly  after  the  armistice  was  signed. 
He  condemned  the  American  troops  who  are  fight- 
ing Bolshevism  in  Russia  and  demanded  their  im- 
mediate withdrawal.  A  few  weeks  ago  we  were  sur- 
prised to  learn  that  he  had  mailed  forty  or  fifty  bombs 
to  our  prominent  men;  yesterday  we  were  shocked  by 
the  news  that  his  infernal  machines  had  destroyed  the 
homes  of  public  officials  in  many  cities ;  today  we  ponder 


42 

whether  the  reports  of  tomorrow  will  terrify  us  with 
the  intelligence  that  he  has  assassinated  the  represen- 
tatives of  law  and  order  in  America.  Surely  the  Red 
radical  is  on  the  rampage  throughout  the  world  with  a 
vengeance ! 


The  Time  For  Solution 

The  publicity  given  these  recent  disturbances  has 
focused  the  attention  of  our  citizens  upon  the  proximity 
of  an  industrial  revolution,  which  threatens  our  politi- 
cal, economic,  religious  and  social  institutions.  Russia 
today  appears  to  be  Bolshevist,  with  Germany,  Austria 
and  other  countries  headed  towards  Bolshevism.  If  the 
people  of  those  countries  succeed  in  establishing  Bol- 
shevist Governments,  they  are  obligated  to  make  war 
on  all  nations,  including  the  United  States,  until  inter- 
national proletarianism  encircles  the  earth.  It  is  high 
time  to  examine  the  causes  of  the  discontent,  the  evi- 
dences of  the  conflict  and  to  suggest  a  possible  solution 
of  the  difficulty. 

The  extreme  Radical  Socialists  are  anarchistic  heart 
and  soul.  They  call  themselves  by  many  names;  in 
some  places  snydicalists,  Bolshevists  or  anarchists;  in 
others,  communists,  collectivists,  Left  Wing  Socialists, 
Nihilists  and  I.  W.  W.  No  matter  what  the  names  by 
which  they  classify  themselves,  they  are  all  of  the 
same  breed  under  any  name.  They  hate  our  form  of 
Government,  denounce  it  as  capitalistic,  militaristic  and 
bourbon.  They  characterize  America  as  the  oppressor 
of  labor ;  assert  that  our  country  is  no  longer  a  democ- 
racy, but  a  plutocracy,  more  tyrannical  towards  labor 
than  Russian  or  German  autocracy.  They  declare  that 
the  rich  alone  govern,  that  the  toiler  is  a  slave  and  that 


43 

all  the  wealth  of  the  world  was  created  by  labor  and 
stolen  by  the  rich  from  the  laborers.  They  denounce 
organized  government  as  wrong  in  principle;  that  the 
establishment  of  political  divisions  into  nations  is  a 
menace  to  the  poor,  because  nations  sanction  the  pri- 
vate ownership  of  property  by  individuals,  and  thereby 
permit  capital  to  rob  the  poor;  that  private  ownership 
allows  the  capitalist  to  bequeath  his  stolen  wealth  to 
his  children,  who  inherit  it  without  having  performed 
labor  to  acquire  it;  that  the  rich  marry  the  rich,  thus 
creating  swollen  fortunes ;  that  the  wealthy  live  in  lux- 
ury and  constantly  grow  rich,  while  the  poor,  despoiled 
of  their  share,  live  in  poverty  and  constantly  grow 
poorer ;  that  private  ownership  of  property  permits  the 
rich  to  select  the  young,  beautiful  and  attractive  of 
woman-kind  in  marriage,  and  leaves  the  unattractive 
for  the  proletariat;  that  modern  marriage  is  a  subter- 
fuge, invented  by  the  clergy  for  the  benefit  of  the  rich ; 
that  churches  of  all  denominations  are  institutions 
erected  on  earth  by  capital  to  lull  the  dissatisfied  prole- 
tariat into  a  false  belief  that  there  is  a  God  who  punish- 
es wicked  capitalists  and  rewards  just  toilers,  after  both 
are  dead;  that  priests,  ministers  and  rabbis  are  the 
paid  agents  of  capital ;  that  the  middle  class  of  people 
are  the  paid  servants  of  the  rich;  that  the  American 
army  is  made  up  of  toilers,  and  is  used  by  capital  to 
kill  the  toilers  in  other  lands,  in  order  to  swell  the 
profits  of  capital ;  that  the  toiler  is  the  "cannon  fodder" 
used  by  capital  to  fight  its  battles ;  that  capital  puts  a 
flag  into  one  hand  of  the  toiler,  a  gun  into  the  other,  a 
uniform  on  his  back  and  exhorts  him,  in  the  name  of 
a  non-existing  God,  and  individual  radical  group,  a 
geographical,  sub-division  of  territory,  a  bigoted  Church 
and  a  political  party  to  go  forth  and  kill  his  brother 
similarly  dressed,  armed  and  exhorted,  all  for  the  glory, 


44 

honor  and  prosperity  of  capital. 

The  radicals  opposed  our  selective  draft  law,  they 
refused  to  fight  for  America,  they  openly  applauded 
their  Bolshevik  associates  in  Russia,  who  have  been 
fighting  our  American  troops,  and  they  renounced  their 
declarations  of  intention  to  become  citizens  in  order 
to  evade  the  draft. 

After  having  exposed  the  spirit  of  the  demands  of 
radicals,  Mr.  Rorke  further  speaks  on  their  nationality 
and  number.  He  says : 

The  radicals  in  America  today  are  numerous.  They 
are  judges  on  the  bench,  lawyers  at  the  bar,  preachers 
in  the  pulpit,  legislators  in  State  and  National  Govern- 
ments ;  they  fill  appointive  and  competitive  offices,  hold 
chairs  of  learning  in  our  universities  and  are  delegates 
representing  thousands  of  toilers.  They  consist  of 
citizens,  native  and  foreign  born,  and  aliens.  The  ma- 
jority of  them  are  foreign-born,  while  some  of  them, 
the  more  powerful  among  them,  were  born  in  America. 
They  are  of  all  nationalities,  colors  and  creeds.  Most 
of  our  radicals  domiciled  in  the  United  States  are  for- 
eign-born and  unnaturalized.  Of  our  seventeen  and  one- 
half  million  aliens  a  little  more  than  two-thirds  are 
American  citizens.  Our  aliens  speak  forty-four  lan- 
guages. Of  the  one-third  unnaturalized  most  of  them 
cannot  read,  write,  speak,  think  or  understand  our 
"United  States"  language.  Hitherto  they  have  gathered 
in  racial  groups,  in  large  industrial  centres,  where 
crafty  agitators  in  their  native  tongue  inflame  them 
against  Church,  State  and  modern  civilization.  They 
are  asking  the  toiler  to  seize  control  of  the  Govern- 
ment, peacefully  if  possible ;  by  force,  if  necessary." 

Mr.  Rorke  clearly  states  that  the  radicals  are  gen- 


45 

erally  inflamed  in  their  own  national  tongues  against 
Government  and  against  the  Church.  Hence,  the  con- 
tra-action  against  them,  or  the  instructions  given  them, 
in  order  to  convert  them  to  sound  principles,  ought  to 
be  given  in  the  same  languages.  Mr.  Rorke  further 
says  that  they  must  be  taught  Americanism. 

We  must  teach  "Americanism"  to  the  foreign- 
born  as  well  as  to  some  of  our  native-born.  Every 
Church,  school,  association,  college,  newspaper,  maga- 
zine and  other  available  agency  should  begin  to  teach 
the  foreigner  and  the  citizen  alike  that  the  United 
States  is  not  the  foe  of  humanity ;  that  every  effort  of 
our  Government  has  been  made  for  the  betterment  of 
mankind;  that  the  Revolutionary  War  was  fought  to 
free  the  colonists  from  English  autocracy,  the  war  of 
1812  to  secure  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  the  war  of 
1848  to  make  possible  the  benefits  of  American  free- 
dom for  Texas,  the  war  of  1865  to  free  the  slaves,  the 
war  of  1898  to  free  the  people  of  Cuba  and  the  Philip- 
pines, and  the  present  war  to  overthrow  autocracy  in 
Europe  and  not  to  enthrone  a  class  of  tyranny  worse 
than  that  of  a  Kaiser  or  a  Czar;  that  democracy  in 
America  means  the  government  of  all  people,  rich  and 
poor,  with  equal  opportunity  before  the  law  to  all,  while 
Socialism,  Bolshevism  and  I.  W.  W.-ism  mean  an  auto- 
cratic government  by  a  class  proletariat,  which  resorts 
to  force  and  violence  to  secure  its  ends ;  that  the  United 
States  is  no  place  for  constant  political  revolutions ;  that 
political  revolutions  in  this  country  are  permitted  un- 
der the  laws  to  be  accomplished  by  votes,  not  violence, 
by  ballots,  not  bullets ;  that  in  no  country  in  the  world 
is  the  working  man  or  working  woman  better  paid, 
housed,  clothed  or  fed  than  in  the  United  States ;  that 
Socialism  would  make  the  State  the  master  of  the  man, 


46 

whereas  the  State  is  the  mere  creature  of  man,  for  man 
existed  before  the  State  and  created  the  State  to  serve 
him,  not  to  control  him;  that  the  State  may  not  absorb 
nor  abolish  parental  rights;  that  it  is  too  much  to  ex- 
pect man  to  surrender  his  natural  personal  liberties  to 
the  state  against  his  will,  and  that  he  has  never  done 
so  without  a  struggle.  We  must  teach  the  follower  of 
the  red  flag  that  while  in  the  United  States  freedom 
of  speech  and  action  is  guaranteed  to  all,  there  is  a 
vast  difference  between  freedom  of  speech  and  un- 
bridled license  of  speech  or  action,  and  that  normal  hu- 
man beings  find  it  difficult  to  control  their  anger  when 
their  Government,  flag,  army,  Church,  marriage  and 
other  institutions  are  subjected  to  wanton,  verbal  and 
written  attacks  and  held  up  to  scorn  and  ridicule. 

Mr.  Rorke  advises  patriotic  capital  to  act  accord- 
ing to  the  principles  exposed  by  Pope  Leo  XIII  in  his 
letter  "Condition  of  Labor." 

He  says : — 

Patriotic  capital  can  at  once  take  steps  to  suppress 
the  handful  of  Liberalists  in  its  midst,  who  hitherto 
have  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  just  claims  of  labor  in 
respect  to  its  demands  for  a  just  wage,  fair  hours,  pro- 
per safeguards  for  health,  compensation  for  injuries, 
the  right  to  organize  and  to  join  unions. 

Capital  should  meet  labor  in  a  spirit  of  friendship, 
should  treat  its  employees  as  beings  with  souls,  not  as 
horses  and  cattle;  capital  should  respect  the  dignity 
of  labor  and  act  to  guard  the  life,  limb,  health,  morals 
and  happiness  of  its  employes.  There  are  many  capi- 
talists now  in  the  United  States  who  are  dividing  among 


47 

their  employes  all  excess  profits,  after  the  employer 
has  deducted  from  the  income  a  fair  return  on  his  in- 
vestment, plus  sufficient  to  maintain  himself  and  his 
family  in  a  manner  becoming  his  condition  in  life.  This 
is  following  out  in  some  degree  the  advice  to  capital 
and  labor  given  by  His  Holiness,  the  late  Pope  Leo 
XIII,  in  his  letter  in  1891  on  the  "Condition  of  Labor." 

Many  corporations  are  giving  stock  bonuses  to 
their  employes;  some  are  dividing  all  excess  profits 
among  them  equally,  some  divide  all  excess  profits  in 
proportion  to  their  salaries  and  the  length  of  service 
they  have  rendered,  some  are  putting  the  working  man 
on  the  board  of  directors,  so  that  the  sentiments  of  the 
toiler  may  be  understood  by  the  employers;  some  are 
creating  grievance  committees,  consisting  of  the  em- 
ployers and  the  laborers;  some  are  beginning  to  con- 
sider the  advisability  of  giving  the  laborer  the  right 
to  participate  in  the  management  of  the  business  as 
well  as  in  the  distribution  of  the  profits.  These  various 
advanced  positions  have  all  been  pointed  out  originally 
by  the  Church,  and  capital  has  begun  to  see  the  way, 
even  though  in  a  small  degree,  that  will  ultimately 
lead  to  peace  in  the  industrial  world. 

Labor  can  aid  by  getting  rid  of  the  handful  of 
godless  Socialists  who  have  tried  to  direct  its  move- 
ments. Once  labor  expels  the  radical  agitator,  it  will 
treat  with  capital  in  a  spirit  of  conciliation.  Labor  must 
be  industrious,  sober  and  never  resort  to  riot  or  viola- 
tions of  the  law.  It  should  organize  into  unions  wher- 
ever and  whenever  possible,  and  it  should  take  as  its 
guiding  principle  (and  this  applies  also  to  the  Liberal- 
ist  capitalist)  the  spirit  of  the  Ten  Commandments, 
Labor  should  wherever  and  whenever  possible  have  a 
Catholic  priest,  a  Protestant  minister  or  a  Jewish  rabbi 
or  some  person  who  believes  in  God  as  its  spiritual 


48 

adviser.  Labor  and  capital  should  resort  to  the  arbi- 
tration of  fair,  fearless  and  fit  men  to  settle  their 
disputes  rather  than  to  force  and  violence. 

The  State  through  its  Legislature,  wherever  pos- 
sible, should  enact  laws,  safeguarding  the  relations  of 
capital  and  labor.  Needless  to  say,  the  Legislatures 
should  have  the  courage  to  deal  justly  with  both  sides. 
Public  employment  bureaus  should  be  established  to 
meet  the  demand  for  labor  in  every  part  of  the  country 
in  order  to  eliminate  unemployment  and  the  discon- 
tent that  grows  out  of  it. 

Charity  can  do  its  bit  by  aiding  those  who  are 
poor,  sick  untrained,  defective  and  criminal.  It  can  or- 
ganize to  save  infant  life,  care  for  the  needy,  infirm  and 
aged,  and  can  start  schools  of  instructio'n  in  all  sec- 
tions for  the  boys  and  girls  of  the  poor,  who  roam  our 
streets,  untrained  in  any  useful  occupation.  It  can 
teach  cleanliness,  thrift  and  self-confidence. 

Men  and  women  who  have  the  time,  the  money 
and  the  inclination  can  render  social  service  to  the  poor 
in  every  way  that  will  prevent  them  from  becoming 
liabilities  to  the  State. 

Religious  instruction  should  be  imparted  to  boys 
and  girls  in  the  home,  but  it  is  sad  fact  that  many  of 
the  parents  to-day,  rich  and  poor  alike,  are  unable  to 
teach  their  children,  for  they  know  nothing  of  it  them- 
selves. Every  boy  or  girl  made  self-supporting  be- 
comes a  deserter  from  the  ranks  of  Socialism. 

Some  people  suggest  a  drastic  immigration  law, 
excluding  all  foreigners  for  a  definite  period  of  years, 
in  order  to  prevent  unemployment  and  national  dis- 
tress and  danger  from  the  Reds. 

The  profiteers  in  rents  and  the  necessities  of  life, 
the  profiteers  who  destroy  foodstuffs  rather  than  sell 
them  at  less  than  a  fixed  market  price,  who  insist  that 


49 

army  food  and  other  supplies  shall  be  shipped  to  Eu- 
rope and  sold  there  more  cheaply  than  here,  lest  their 
sale  reduce  the  high  cost  of  living  in  the  United  Statec, 
may  be  shrewd  business  men,  but  they  fail  to  realize 
what  thousands  of  radicals,  as  well  as  thousands  of  pa- 
triotic law-abiding  American  citizens  are  thinking  about 
them,  nor  do  they  realize  that  they  are  worse  than  the 
radicals  because  their  action  breeds  resentment  against 
them  and  the  Government,  which  (the  radical  teaches) 
tolerates  their  activities. 

Finally,  efforts  should  be  made  to  place  a  copy  of 
the  encyclical  letter  of  His  Holiness,  the  late  Pope  Leo 
XIII,  on  "The  Condition  of  Labor,"  into  the  hands  of 
every  toiler  and  every  employer  in  the  United  States. 

It  will  at  least  remind  them  that  unless  the  spirit 
of  justice  enters  into  their  dealings,  they  will  have 
Bmall  hope  of  solving  their  difficulties. 

The  adoption  of  some  of  the  suggestions  made 
here  will  tend  in  the  direction  of  social  justice,  and  the 
establishment  of  social  justice  in  the  United  States 
means  that  the  spirit  of  the  radical  will  disappear. 

These  suggestions  are  made  for  the  reason  that  the 
millions  of  men,  women  and  children  who  are  as  yet 
unborn  should  have  the  right  to  expect  when  they  ar- 
Ttive  on  this  globe  that  they  enter  a  world  of  opportunity 
for  all,  where  neither  Liberalistic  capital  on  the  one 
hand  will  rob  them  nor  Socialistic  labor  on  the  other 
enslave  them. 

From  the  above  quoted  statement  of  Mr.  Rorke 
we  clearly  see,  that  an  immediate  social  action  is  need- 
ed in  order  to  avoid  serious  social  disturbances.  On  the 
part  of  Catholics  is  expected  an  immediate  social  and 
missionary  action  in  order  to  help  our  society  to  avoid 
a  future  revolution,  and  a  religious  persecution  as 


50 


well.  Such  action  at  the  same  time  will  lay  a  good  foun- 
dation for  Catholicism. 

If  such  action  would  be  neglected,  Protestantism 
which  will  try  to  save  this  society  from  revolution, 
would  exercise  a  considerable  influence  and  by  this 
would  put  Catholicism  in  a  light  of  being  uninteresing 
for  the  American  People  as  a  whole,  which  would  mean 
to  deprive  the  Church  of  her  great  future  mission  in 
this  land. 


51 

The  Catholic  University  and  Catholic 
Education. 

"The  universal  unrest  of  the  day",  says  His 
Eminence,  "seems  to  be  a  prelude  to  very  troubled 
times.  Evil  doctrines  propounded  by  clever  minds  will 
have  more  and  more  influence.  Great  need,  then,  will 
the  Church  have  of  leaders  with  sure  knowledge  and 
well  trained  and  well  balanced  minds.  Our  greatest 
single  hope  is  in  the  Catholic  University,  which  in  its 
short  existence  has  already  been  of  the  greatest  service 
in  many  ways,  that  even  the  Catholic  public,  perhaps, 
is  not  aware  of." 

The  great  work  of  our  Catholic  University  would 
be  facilitated  if  all  the  Catholic  higher  institutions  of 
learning  (at  least  diocesan)  would  be  affiliated  with 
the  Catholic  University  in  Washington,  and  if  all  of 
them  would  follow  the  programs  issued  by  this 
institution  and  confirmed  by  the  Hierarchy.  Such 
uniformity  of  Catholic  higher  education  would 
strengthen  our  Catholic  forces.  Such  method  is 
required  all  the  more,  because  in  the  educational 
proceedings  of  our  government  the  tendency  of 
uniformity  and  some  kind  of  centralization  in  higher 
and  even  secondary  education  is  more  and  more 
apparent  every  day. 

The  faculty  of  Journalism,  which  probably  will  be 
established  in  the  near  future  in  the  Catholic 
University  will  lay  a  solid  foundation  for  the 
American  Catholic  press. 

In  future  Americanization  era,  the  Catholic  press 
will  be  the  most  patent  means  of  preserving 


52 

Catholicism  and  implanting  it  in  American  national 
soul,  but  for  this  purpose  Catholic  well  trained  editors 
are  a  necessary  condition;  hence  the  Catholic 
University  will  have  a  very  serious  and  honorable 
mission  to  perform.  Catholic  well  trained  editors  are 
needed  as  much  as  Catholic  theologians  and  lawyers. 

As  to  Catholic  primary  education,  which  will  be 
exposed  in  the  near  future  to  many  restrictions  issued 
by  the  legislatures  of  different  States,  we  would 
remark,  that  all  such  restrictions  will  refer  either  to 
foreign  languages  or  to  Catholic  religion.  We  would 
dare  to  say  that  in  many  places  such  restrictions  will 
be  issued  with  the  pronounced  aim  of  eliminating 
foreign  languages  in  private  schools,  though  the  hidden 
aim  will  be  to  abolish  or  at  least  to  reduce  to  a  minimum 
Catholic  education  in  these  schools.  It  is  well  under 
stood,  that  hundreds  of  Catholic  private  schools,  where 
religion  is  taught  in  foreign  languages,  which  schools 
are  supported  by  different  elements,  will  exist  only  as 
long  as  the  religion  is  taught  there  in  foreign 
languages,  but  as  soon  as  this  condition  will  be  changed, 
these  schools  will  disappear,  because  the  parents  will 
send  their  children  to  public  schools,  which  are  free. 

For  instruction  in  religion  they  would  send  their 
children  to  Sunday  Schools  only.  Then  public  non-secta- 
rian schools  would  Americanize  Catholic  children  very 
quickly  and  would  make  of  them  a  non-sectarian 
generation.  Sunday  schools  would  be  unable  to  provide 
a  proper  religious  education  for  Catholic  children.. 

One  of  the  important  duties  of  the  Catholic  living 
in  the  United  States  is  to  save  Catholicism  in  educating 
new  generations  and  we  have  to  use  all  possible  means 
leading  to  this  aim.  If  there  would  be  the  slightest 
probability,  that  the  elimination  of  instruction  in 
religion  in  foreign  languages  would  cause  many 


53 

Catholic  parents  to  send  their  children  to  public  schools 

(non-sectarian),  there  would  be  a  great  obligation 

on  the  part  of  Catholics  not  to  cooperate  with  such 

false  Americanization,  that  leads  to  non-sectarianism, 

In  the  peace  treaty,  which  is  the  foundation  of  the 
League  of  Nations,  there  are  points  that  guarantee  to 
national  minorities  in  Europe  the  preservation  of  their 
language  and  customs,  and  as  to  Jews,  the  peace  treaty 
guarantees  for  them  the  observation  of  the  Sabbath, 
and  the  governmental  support  of  their  Jewish  religious 
schools  using  the  Jewish  language,  and  teaching  Mosaic 
religion  in  Jewish.  That  there  will  be  a  tendency  to 
extend  such  law  all  over  the  world  is  undoubted,  because 
the  spirit  of  International  Democracy  cannot  be  halted. 
But  before  such  liberalism  would  come  here,  all  Catholic 
private  schools  might  be  stopped,  or  at  least  there 
might  be  introduced  such  restrictions  and  imposed  such 
heavy  burdens,  that  these  schools  would  be  unable  to 
exist. 

"There  are  many  signs  of  increasing  hostility  to 
the  church  and  of  a  desire  to  translate  this  hostility 
into  legislation,  whether  national  or  state",  says  the 
Cardinal 

The  legislatures  of  different  States,  and  the 
legislature  of  the  United  States  ought  to  have  as  many 
Catholic  representatives  as  possible  because  they  only 
are  able  to  restrain  the  coming  persecution  of 
Catholicism,  which  presecution  will  undoubtedly  strike, 
among  other  things,  our  Catholic  Schools. 


